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Something's Bruin UCLA coach like his team's chances
Posted: Tuesday May 02, 2000 02:57 PM
Can UCLA recapture the same championship form that brought the storied program 11 national titles? It's been a mixed bag this year for the Bruins, but if they play up to the level like they did when they thrashed No. 3 seed Maryland in the Midwest Regional, they could make some noise. The next round brings yet another tough test on Thursday when the Bruins face off against No 2 seeded Iowa State in the regional semis. CNNSI.com's Vince Cellini spoke recently with UCLA head coach Steve Lavin about his team's recent surge. Vince Cellini : Let's go back to February 17. You lose by 29 at Arizona State. And at that point people are coming down on the program and they even accused some of the kids of quitting in that one. I want to ask you, how do you get from that point to going on, rallying at Cal, winning in overtime at Stanford and getting to this point in the tournament. How did you do it? Steve Lavin : Well you know it's nteresting. We did struggle in the middle part of the season. We were 5-9 and lost six out of seven games at one point which doesn't play out real well in Los Angeles, and in particular here in Pauley Pavilion when you've got 11 national championship banners above your head. We actually started the season at 8-2. We had quality wins over Purdue, over DePaul, over North Carolina. We had a tough loss to Gonzaga, but I knew this team had potential. Then we finished the year with eight straight wins. So if you take the 8-2 beginning and the 8-0 finish, that's 16-2. So we've played good basketball at different points this year. We're playing at our best right now. We've played the second most difficult schedule in the country behind only Kentucky. And that's helped as well. Cellini : Let me ask you about the development of Earl Watson, your fine point guard. We understand he underwent laser surgery on the injured left eye after he banged it in the game against Maryland. What's his status right now and tell me how he's evolved into the quality point guard we saw last Saturday against the Terrapins? Lavin : Well, Earl Watson has an extremely swollen eye and that's the biggest problem because he has limited vision (and) obviously the blood has kind of accumulated and swollen. He looks a little like "Rocky" after 12 rounds of a heavyweight fight. He's already our, what we call our Green Beret or Navy Seal he's so tough. And he's our leader on and off the court. I told him to stay "focused" and I actually got a laugh out of him on that one. But he knocked down five out of six three's after the elbow to the eye. So that makes me believe he's going to be OK. Because the vision must be pretty good, 20-20 vision there if he knocked down five out of six. And some of them were five or six feet behind the three-point line. Cellini : Amazing performance. Speaking of which, you go on to Iowa State now and you have to start and finish with Marcus Fizer with that team. He's listed at 6-8 and he's as good a player as there is in he nation. But he'll be seeing your big people like Jerome Moiso and Dan Gadzuric. Tell me about playing against a guy like Fizer. Lavin : He's as dominant a player as there is in the country. He's similar to (former Michigan player) Tractor Traylor. He's not as big as Tractor. He's more like a Charles Barkley in terms of his versatility and skill level. He's a handful. Fortunately for us, we played Brendan Haywood at North Carolina, Mark Madsen and the (Jarron and Jason) Collins twins at Stanford, Loren Woods at Arizona. We've played a lot of good big people and he may be the best of all of them. So we're going to have to have a collective awareness, kind of a collective effort defensively. Give him different looks and not let him get in his rhythm or his comfort zone. Because once he gets confidence and the ball starts rolling in the right direction for him, he's a hulk, he's a load to stop. Cellini : Steve Lavin, thanks for taking the time out to join us and best of luck Thursday against the Cyclones and throughout the tournament. Lavin : Thank you.
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